Lucia Zappalà (Italy) and Mariusz Głąbowski (Poland) are the new president and vice-president of the executive body
EUNICE Board of Directors is the second governing body of the alliance after the General Assembly of Rectors.
The Board of Directors of EUNICE European University approved the Key Competences to be fostered by the alliance through its wide variety of educational offerings. This was one of the outcomes of the online meeting held on November 12th, the last held under the presidency of this Board -the second most important governing body of the alliance after the Rectors General Assembly- by Matxalen Llosa.
Fostering key competencies is part of the EUNICE strategy to deliver higher education which meets society’s needs. Following an analysis of national and European studies, together with regional surveys of employer views on desirable graduate competencies, a EUNICE working group has identified eight key competencies. These are: problem solving, teamworking, communication, self-management, cognitive flexibility, digital competence, technical competence and global intercultural competence. (Learn more about EUNICE key competencies here)
EUNICE has now started an ongoing process to assess the extent to which its courses contribute to the development of these key competencies. After holding the position for two years, Matxalen Llosa, Vice-Rector for Internationalisation at the University of Cantabria (Spain) handed over to Lucia Zappalà, Deputy Rector for International Affairs at the University of Catania (Italy), as the new President of the Board of Directors. The new vice-president is Mariusz Głąbowski, Vice-Rector of International relations at Poznań University of Technology (Poland).
About Prof. Zappalà
The new President of EUNICE Board of Directors, Lucia Zappalà, Ph.D., is a full professor of General and Applied Entomology at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania (Italy) and Deputy Rector for International Relations. She’s been member of the Steering Committee/Board of Directors of EUNICE since its foundation and in the European University alliance she actively participates in student exchange promotion, internship scouting and design of work-related international curricula.
“I will do my best to carry out this task with enthusiasm, always keeping in mind the interests of the entire alliance and of the academic communities that have joined the construction of this European dream. I firmly believe that this second phase of the alliance will have to lead it towards permanence”, stated Zappalà. “It will therefore be essential to work on institutionalization, on the definition of solid and shared procedures, on the widespread involvement of local academic communities and on the selection of sustainable objectives in the long term and that represent at the same time the added value of belonging to a European University.
Zappalà is Head of the agricultural entomology lab; Principal Investigator for several national and international research projects on sustainable pest control; and member of the European Food Safety Authority panel on Plant Health for the 2018-24 term.
About Prof. Głąbowski
Mariusz Głąbowski, is the new Vice-President of the EUNICE Board of Directors. Ph.D., D.Sc. is a professor at the Institute of Teleinformatics Networks at the Faculty of Computing and Telecommunications at Poznań University of Technology (PUT). His work focuses on modeling and performance evaluation of multiservice networks and telecommunication systems, as well as cybersecurity issues. He is an influential author or co-author of four books and more than 200 articles and papers.
Prof. Głąbowski has been involved in the organisational, educational, and research activities of the European University EUNICE since its inception. From November 2020 to October 2023, he was responsible for the management of the EUNICE project. He is currently the Project Manager of EUNICE4U Erasmus+ project. He is also coordinating the work of an international team of specialists tasked with designing and implementing a four-semester Master’s in Cybersecurity for EUNICE students
